Hi all
Apparently everyone has opinions on whether honey bees need pollen to build comb. However, not everyone's opinion has equal merit. My source is H. Randall Hepburn, one of the world's foremost authorities on honey bees and wax. His publications are too numerous to mention.

Obituary

It is with a deep sense of loss that we advise of the
passing of Howard Randolph Hepburn on the 15th
October 2014 in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, South
Africa. He was born on the 11th August 1941 in
Houston, Texas and, after receiving his education in
the USA, spent most of his life working in and from
SouthAfrica. Randall made seminal contributions to
understanding the physical and chemical properties
of insect cuticle and honeybee biology.

His work on honeybees is unrivaled in that it
focused on the largest part of the original population
of the Western honeybee which is located on
the African continent. These honeybee populations
have unique features that illuminate honey bee
biology and behavior in ways that are not possible
if only European honeybee populations are studied.

His work is regarded as fundamental and seminal in
these areas and much of it is summarized in his
books on the Honeybees of Africa and the Honeybees
of Asia co-authored with Sarah Radloff. His
most recent book Honeybee Nests. Composition,
Structure and Function coauthored with Christian
Pirk and Orawan Duangphakdee (2014) explored
the “extended phenotype” of these social insects.

Hepburn, HR (1986) Honeybees and Wax. An Experimental Natural History. Springer-Verlag, Berlin 205 pp.
Hepburn HR, Radloff SE (1998) Honeybees of Africa. Springer-Verlag, Berlin 370 pp.
Hepburn HR, Radloff SE (2011) (Eds) Honeybees of Asia. Springer-Verlag, Berlin 669 pp.
Hepburn Hr, Pick CWW, Duangphakdee, O (2014) Honeybee Nests. Composition, Structure and Function. Springer-Verlag, Berlin 389 pp.

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